The charge relates to the amount of goodwill attached to the company's $5.4 billion purchase of ATI Technologies in 2006: goodwill is an accounting term that in this case, stands for "the amount by which we overpaid." AMD attached $3.2 billion in goodwill to the ATI merger, and has now written $2.5 billion of that goodwill off its balance sheet with the divestiture of the former ATI's consumer chip business.

But even with the one-time charges out of the way, AMD lost $269 million on "continuing operations," such as its processor and graphics businesses. That's a little better than last year's loss of $531 million from those businesses, but AMD still has plenty of work turning itself into a profitable company in the second half of the year, its stated goal.

About the author

Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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